Black Shell Mediahttps://blackshellmedia.com
Digital Marketing for the Games IndustryMon, 12 Nov 2018 16:00:42 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.873978866Reverence: What to Do and Avoid Doing When Tackling a Big Name Projecthttps://blackshellmedia.com/2018/11/12/reverence-what-to-do-and-avoid-doing-when-tackling-a-big-name-project/
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Remember all the bad press Star Wars Battlefront II generated? Their parade got rained on for one simple reason: the studio lacked the respect to take on such a big name project. Here’s what I mean. Cleary their objective was to change things from the first game. In the last game, the main protest was season […]

Being in the gaming industry is a bit like playing chess. You have to look at the whole picture, see what your opponent is doing, and decide your next move. If you make the wrong choices, you’re in for a rough, frustrating ride. One that ends with you losing more than you gain. But if […]

Star Wars: The Old Republic. World of Warcraft. Even the controversial Star Wars Battlefront II. Games that are either entirely based around online multiplayer, or that feature a multiplayer mode, are pretty common. But there’s a reason why there are far more single-player games out there: making online multiplayer work is more or less rocket […]

As a follow-up to last week’s article on live streams, we’ve got some more info for you! Live streams are popular for a single reason: people love to watch others play video games. Think about it, it’s exciting. It provides the opportunity in engaging with a fellow gamer, or developer, and gives you a chance […]

Thinking of doing a live stream to gain traction for your game? Congratulations on making a smart marketing decision! Not only are live streams a great way to connect directly with your audience and build a dev-player relationship, it’s also an opportunity to answer burning questions. But the thing is, it’s not enough to conduct […]

Demakes, you know, like Gang Garrison 2, a direct reinvention of Valve’s Team Fortress 2. Games heavily inspired, influenced and dependent on a predecessor, often created on an older platform (or at least made to look that way) by completely different studios, these demakes have sort of popped up out of the woodwork recently. There’s […]

In a day and age where everyone is connected through Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, it may seem surprising that email is not only still around, but still relevant. Something that began in the 1960s is still around, being used to communicate with business partners, coworkers, and potential clients, and it’s as important as it […]

As we’ve covered before on the blog, college and education in general is important for any career, gaming or otherwise. It can open doors, give you a foundation for a new job, and maybe even an edge over the competition. But again, as we’ve stated before, getting a degree doesn’t exactly guarantee success either. There […]

Thinking of creating a new website for your studio? In this digital age, that is more important than most things you could do! Think of your website as your own storefront, with a proper landing page and call to action. A blog to increase search engine optimization (SEO), and provide a sense of community. Links […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/09/24/choosing-a-content-managing-system-for-your-website/feed/012871Put Up or Walk Away: What to Do When No One Buys Your Gamehttps://blackshellmedia.com/2018/09/17/put-up-or-walk-away-what-to-do-when-no-one-buys-your-game/
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No developer wants to think about this kind of scenario, but . . . What do you do when no one buys your game? This isn’t something commonly addressed, despite the fact that it happens all the time. Games get released and lost on digital platforms, hit the sales bin at the store after a […]

Thinking of porting to console, but not sure if it’s worth it? Welcome to the club! This is something that every developer, indie or AAA, has to deal with at some point. There are projects where the platform just makes sense, such as mobile games that are clearly… mobile. Good for tablets and phones, but not […]

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vital to every single business out there, large or small: Solo developers need it just as much as any large 300+ employee business. The thing is, SEO makes it possible for you to show up in more searches online. Anytime someone types in the name of your video game, or […]

If you’re new to the industry, or you’re debating whether or not to go into game development, there are a few movies you should probably watch. Now, it’s easy to ask, “Are there even . . . more than 2-3 movies about game development anyway?” Yes, there are. And by watching these films, you can […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/08/27/the-top-5-movies-about-game-development/feed/0127736 Tips For Living A Healthy Lifestyle While Working A Desk Jobhttps://blackshellmedia.com/2018/08/20/6-tips-for-living-a-healthy-lifestyle-while-working-a-desk-job/
https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/08/20/6-tips-for-living-a-healthy-lifestyle-while-working-a-desk-job/#respondMon, 20 Aug 2018 15:00:05 +0000https://blackshellmedia.com/?p=12750

Game developers lead a very distinct lifestyle. Regardless of whether or not they have day jobs, they always wind up in front of their computers working on games for hours. While entertaining, and certainly rewarding, game development is also quite challenging. More than the pressure to make sales and fund another project, it’s a matter […]

Being an entrepreneur means a careful balancing act of many things. Marketing and advertising, product manufacturing (actual game development), and even personal finance just for starters. The thing is, everything must be carefully kept up when you’re an entrepreneur. On an average day, you might have to handle a huge mess in development, live stream […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/08/13/10-personal-finance-tips-for-entrepreneurs/feed/012722Crossroads: Is It Time You Switch Career Paths?https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/08/06/crossroads-is-it-time-you-switch-career-paths/
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Game development can be a difficult road filled with demotivation and self-doubt, so on the BSM blog, we try to stick to positivity, good messaging, and overall hope. How to be a better designer, how to overcome obstacles, how to better manage your time and handle criticism. But that’s just one side of the coin. […]

Discord has established itself as the go-to for many gamers and developers when it comes to communication. It’s become the place where gamers meet new friends, where they learn about new games, and where they get to express their distastes openly. It’s Discord, and it’s a reflection of the long way we’ve come since Ventrilo, […]

Remember when blogging was a hobby? It was some random teenager on Tumblr just reposting their favorite celebrities and quotes. Any blog with its own domain was relatively unfollowed and unread. Well, both digital advancements (the rise of the digital age, the conquering of the internet) and SEO changed all of that. Suddenly, blogs were […]

We’ve covered the American cities that should make your list, but now it’s time to focus on Europe. While it may seem like America and Asia have the hold on games, Europe shouldn’t be underestimated. The coffee-fueled, book-reading public enjoys their games too, and as such, there’s plenty of work to be done in France, […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/07/16/top-european-cities-for-game-developers/feed/012260Most Popular Cities in the U.S. for Gaming Companieshttps://blackshellmedia.com/2018/07/09/most-popular-cities-in-the-u-s-for-gaming-companies/
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Whether you’re looking to move, visit, or potentially even kick off a career in gaming sometime in the future, it’s likely you’ve wondered what cities to look into. After all, AAA is kind of the big leagues of game development. And some indie studios really do have . . . well, studios! Filled with up […]

Scenario: your game is done, and it’s been launched and marketed. It’s available for purchase on platforms like Steam and itch.io—maybe even console if you’re a lucky indie development studio. And yet . . . The game isn’t selling. What’s going on?! Surely, there wasn’t enough marketing. Maybe the messaging is off. Maybe you’ve developed […]

As a developer, how difficult is it to choose between innovating in an untested market vs. going with a safe rehash in a tried and true market? This is the question of the hour these days, with so many players up in a frenzy over lack of industry innovation in the AAA market. So many […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/06/25/a-not-so-entertaining-battle-whats-going-on-between-developers-and-players/feed/012840Is It Good or Bad to Spend Too Much Time Playing Your Own Game?https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/06/18/is-it-good-or-bad-to-spend-too-much-time-playing-your-own-game/
https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/06/18/is-it-good-or-bad-to-spend-too-much-time-playing-your-own-game/#respondMon, 18 Jun 2018 16:00:59 +0000https://blackshellmedia.com/?p=12656

You did it: you launched your game and now it’s available for anyone to play! Everyone, including yourself. That’s amazing, right? Being able to finally play and enjoy something you created either alone or with a group of people. Not everyone can say they accomplished something they set out to do, especially something so detailed […]

If you’re just starting out a career in game development, there’s plenty you should know. Luckily, there’s tons of resources out there (including this blog!) so it’s all a matter of making the time to sift through it all. You already know the basics: assembling a portfolio, always advancing your skill set, etc.. Now it’s […]

One of the main concerns in the game development world is that as studios focus on using their products to make money, they sacrifice their happiness. You have to remember that creating games is an act of love, and you have to keep that in mind in order to obtain the results you want. Happiness […]

We’re going to cut to the chase: you’re here for the tips, and we’re here to give them to you. Without further ado, let’s jump into these 9 useful business tips for budding game developers! 1. Know Your Numbers To make a living from indie games, you will have to start running your own business. There […]

That’s right, we’re talking about that 1986-2016 side-scrolling action-adventure series that spawned a bunch of copycat games and made up 50 percent of the inspiration behind the Metroidvania genre (the other 50 percent being Castlevania, of course) . . . Metroid! An iconic game series, one could say it’s even Nintendo’s darkest game series, since it’s […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/05/21/7-design-tips-from-super-metroid/feed/011907A Life and Games Career By Your Designhttps://blackshellmedia.com/2018/05/14/a-life-and-games-career-by-your-design/
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This is a guest post by Rachel Presser of Sonic Toad. Check out her website if you are interested in learning more about freelance work, game development and marketing! “Is this game EVER going to come out?! When does the part where I get to solely focus on game-making come in?” is a phrase I’ve […]

Many times, I find myself unimpressed by a game’s faulty plot. I end up feeling disconnected, uninterested, and generally disappointed when I complete a video game. However, I do find solace in knowing there is hope for a game lacking in plot. My hope is found in characters such as the Joker from Arkham Asylum, Nashandra […]

Today’s guest post is by game designer and developer Will Nations and originally appeared on Will’s website. Last time, we discussed the concept of a narrative scripting language that could revolutionize the way players interact with a game world. We considered the possibility of using Toki Pona, an artificial 120-word language with 10 syntax rules, as a starting […]

Today’s guest post is by game designer and developer Will Nations and originally appeared on Will’s website. Minecraft’s capacity for simple, direct, consumer-level editing of the 3D world has brought upon revolutions in game design and has joyously perforated industries across the world: education, design, architecture, and a whole host of other fields have felt its influence. […]

The village has been set ablaze, its once calm mountain vista transformed into a horizon of ash and flickering flames. The Big Bad looms over the cowering village leader. “Do you know why I’m here?” asks the Big Bad. The village leader rubs his singed gray facial hair. “No. Why are you here.” The Big […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/04/16/dialog-miniguide-writing-voice-acting-world-building-doesnt-suck/feed/011851Design: How It Works, How to Engage, and How to Retainhttps://blackshellmedia.com/2018/04/09/design-works-engage-retain/
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Game design is one of those things that gets highly debated all the time, by both game developers and players. Everyone has theories on why something works, why something else doesn’t, and what you should do. With that in mind, clearly, it’s safe to assume that we’re only adding more opinion to the truckload. That […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/04/09/design-works-engage-retain/feed/011801A Day in the Life of a Content Marketing Specialist: 6 Tips to Help You Captivate and Keep an Audiencehttps://blackshellmedia.com/2018/04/02/day-life-content-marketing-specialist-6-tips-help-captivate-keep-audience/
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First thing’s first, if you’re a regular reader, you know I specialize at content marketing. And I find there’s a lot of confusion about what that entails. Obviously I handle a lot of gaming related projects, because of the industry, but what exactly is content marketing? Well, it’s all semantics, but content marketing is related […]

How many of you aspiring game developers hate creating characters, either playable or not? I myself was guilty of jotting down only two to three bullet points for a character’s blurb. My problem is that every time I revisited that character’s blurb, I changed, altered it, or scrapped it entirely. This failure to critically focus […]

Thanks to Gummicube for this awesome guest post! While mothers across the world can complain about the time their children spend on video games, there’s no doubt that the gaming industry is at an all-time high. With revenue of $108.4 billion in 2017, it’s safe to say that the gaming industry is only going to continue to […]

How popular are conventions? Well, Game Developers Conference 2016 had over 27,000 industry professionals under one roof. That’s a heck of a lot of networking opportunities! And honestly, that can also be incredibly daunting. Regardless of where you are in your game development career, conventions are an integral part of networking, as overwhelming as they […]

Last week, we covered how to minimize risk when trying to become a solo game developer, so this week, let’s dive deeper. In the age we live in, anyone can be an artist. Anyone could write the next best selling book, film the next festival award winning flick, or make the next big indie game. […]

If you’re reading this, then chances are you want to become a solo game developer. Perhaps you dream of being the next Notch and making millions off of a single game. Maybe you’ve found the passion and drive to create your magnum opus. Or at the very least, you’re interested in what being a solo […]

Last week I had a bad cold. I was coughing, sneezing and trying to stop my head from exploding. To try and alleviate my suffering, I was ingesting every cold medicine I could find. While I was lying in bed, I thought that my problems were: 1. A stuffy nose 2. A persistent cough 3. […]

]]>https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/02/12/dont-just-treat-symptoms-solve-problems/feed/013183How Many Games Should a Good Game Dev Play?https://blackshellmedia.com/2018/02/05/many-games-good-game-dev-play/
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It is reasonable to ask the question as to whether developers need to play games to help them be good game developers. It would be misguided, however, to assume that not playing any games at all would benefit a game developer. Like with any profession, having an interest in the subject matter helps. An appreciation […]

I have been playing Pokemon Go for a while now as my new phone supports it. It has been getting slightly stale to no fault of its own—I don’t normally play mobile games. However, since late October I have been playing more as things within the event have grabbed my attention.This triggered today’s article, so […]

It’s astonishing how many game developers have no idea when to send Steam Keys out. Some send them before the game is launched, while others wait until a few months after. And truth is, both approaches are wrong. The thing about Steam keys is that they work, but only to a point. They’re not meant […]

It’s the granddaddy of all MMORPG’s. It reigns supreme. The iconic MMO killer. It’s World of Warcraft. Originally released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment, it was the fourth released game set in the Warcraft universe. It’s had 12 million subscriptions at its peak, and well over 100 million in its lifetime. Now, six expansions later, the […]

Battleships of foreign metals and humming plasma scream overhead and skyscrapers collapse in upon themselves. A mother stands in the rubble clutching her young, frightened daughter to her chest. While she may be the key to saving all of humanity from the alien invasion, she has more important things on her mind at the moment […]

Reaching out to content creators is all about personalizing your approach. You can’t try to connect with every journalist or YouTuber in the same way. Some YouTubers are super colloquial and talk very casually to their fans, and some journalists take a very businesslike, formal approach to their craft. Plus, every content creator and influencer […]

You can pick any game, pick out some mechanics, and what do you know—they exist in many other games. The reason for this is developers usually borrow ideas and mechanics from other games. Some might call this stealing, and the title of this article would suggest as much, but how would new games come about […]

What I’ve found in my time working with indie game communities is that very few game developers are in the loop in terms of what community engagement really entails. To most, it simply means posting when there’s an update or occasionally asking for player feedback on Discord. Maybe tweeting out when there’s a sale. In essence, […]

A month or so ago, Nintendo held a financial results presentation for their second quarter of the ongoing fiscal year. During the presentation, company president Tatsumi Kimishima presented the graph you see below, illustrating the playing habits of Nintendo Switch owners. The breakdown is as follows: 48% of Switch users play the device equally in […]

Here at Black Shell Media, we find ourselves extremely lucky to represent a wide array of developers from different backgrounds. Each and every one of our developer friends took very different routes to end up where they are today, published and professional. This interview series gives you a peek behind the curtains into the everyday lives of […]